The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
Chalkuchma thought that his arrival would bring many surprises and comforts to the Inca King. However, apart from welcoming him, Atahualpa did not show any expression of happiness or joy. A look of hesitation and indifference. Since the king wants to summon him, he must have something very important to tell him. However, the king only briefly asked him about the situation of Kiskis, and then asked him to leave in a hurry, without giving him any instructions or explanations. Therefore, when he broke up with the king, he didn't understand why the king called him here.
When Chalkuchma walked out of the king's council room and saw Hernando waiting for him, he followed the captain out of the temple. However, as soon as he left the monastery, he saw his younger brother Gonzalo coming towards him with a group of cavalry. When they saw the Chalkuch horses, they all rushed towards him.
Chalkuchma was startled and asked Hernando, "Mr. Captain, what is going on?"
Hernando also saw that something was wrong with the momentum, so he loudly asked his fourth brother, "What do you want to do?"
Gonzalo said, "The Marquis has an order to immediately arrest Chalcuchima, the commander of the Inca army." Then he shouted to the soldiers, "Tie him up and take him back to the military camp."
Hernando raised his hand and said, "Wait a minute, fourth brother, you see clearly, this is an honored guest I invited from afar."
Gonzalo didn't listen to this at all and said, "You can talk to the Marquis about this." After saying that, he asked the soldiers to tie up Chalkuch's horse and lead him towards the military camp. Hernando had no choice but to say to Chalkuchma, "General, please feel aggrieved for now. I will go and explain it to the Marquis, and he will definitely treat you like a friend."
What Chalkuchma was most worried about happened. He was bound and escorted like a prisoner, and followed the cavalry towards the Spanish military camp. At this time, the sun had already set to the west. Although he was riding in a sedan along the way, he felt exhausted from the whole day's hard work. After all, he was already an old man in his fifties.
After not walking far, we arrived at the Spanish military camp. But what surprised him was that there were more Inca men and women than Spanish soldiers in the Spanish military camp. When he walked past the gate of the military camp, many people recognized him and saluted and greeted him. Some of them looked familiar to him, but he couldn't remember their names or where they had met. However, he felt that he was shameless in front of others, so he lowered his head very low, not wanting to be recognized, let alone greeting acquaintances.
After a while, the Spaniards locked him in a small room made of stones. The room was empty, there was nothing, not even a bed. The exhausted leader of Quito's army entered the room and was untied from the ropes. He couldn't hold on any longer, so he suddenly lay down on the ground, gasping for air with his mouth open.
The roof of this stone house is very high, and no one can find a way to escape from the solid stone house. Just now, he thought that the king's house was too simple, but now, his stone house was simply incomparable to the king's house. It could be said that this was a house he had never lived in before. He lay on the ground, hoping that Captain Hernando would speak kindly to his brother, the Marquis, and let him out. However, as hour after hour passed, this expectation slowly turned into disappointment. Before he knew it, he lay on the ground and fell asleep.
When he was awakened by a noisy door opening, he thought Hernando had told his brother to let him out. However, when he opened his eyes, he saw a few Spanish soldiers entering the house carrying oil lamps, and then placed the oil lamps in the corner. Behind him came two officers and an Indian interpreter. It was obvious from their menacing posture that they were not here to let him out.
The two soldiers yelled, pulled him up from the ground, tied his hands, and made him stand under the oil lamp in the corner. The officer whom Hernando called his fourth brother walked up to him with murderous intent and asked sharply, "I heard that you hid all the gold, right?"
When Chalkuchma heard the Spaniards ask him about the gold, he replied calmly, "No, I am a soldier. I am only interested in fighting. Gold is used to decorate palaces and temples. I have never been interested in those things." Ask."
Gonzalo hit a snag and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. He looked at the Inca commander and said, "You said you are not interested in gold? Who can believe you? Only ghosts believe it."
Chalkuchma explained very seriously and sincerely, "It's true. Gold is used to decorate palaces and temples. It cannot be eaten or worn. What use do I need it for?"
This statement stopped Gonzalo from questioning, but he didn't believe what Chalkuchma said at all, so he gritted his teeth and glared at Chalkuchma, saying, "Stop talking nonsense to me, stop giving me sophistry. You Tell me where you hid the gold. Otherwise, I will use my whip and stick to make you speak. My whip and stick will not recognize you as a general or a prisoner."
Seeing that Gonzalo was really going to do something, Chalkuchma couldn't help but feel a little scared, but he still answered frankly, "I really didn't hide the gold, and I really don't know where the gold is. What I know All the gold was brought here from Haoha. As for where there is a lot of gold, I heard that there is a lot of gold in Cusco, and even places with sun temples and palaces also have gold.”
Gonzalo said, "It's up to you to say this. I want to ask you about other places and places you should know, such as Quito and Haoha."
Chalkuchma shook his head and said, "In the Inca Kingdom, gold is generally controlled by the Inca King. I am a soldier. I have many women and a lot of land, but I really don't know much about gold. many."
Gonzalo obviously didn't want to quarrel with him anymore, and shouted to his soldiers, "This gentleman has finally decided that he doesn't want to listen to good advice, so he will serve him with whips and sticks. Beat me hard." Beat him to death. Beat him until he wants to talk."
As soon as he finished speaking, two soldiers put him to the ground, and the other two soldiers began to rain down blows on his body and legs with whips and sticks. Immediately, the old man of the Inca nobleman was beaten until his skin was torn and his flesh was torn, and he was rolling on the ground. But apart from moaning instinctively, the old man didn't cry or beg for mercy at all.
He now seems to understand that he came here not because the Incas wanted to summon him, but because he was deceived by the Spanish. In fact, he had always suspected that the Spaniards were deceiving him, but he still believed their lies. He felt that he was so stupid. How could he believe that the Spaniards would send twenty cavalry all the way to Haoha just to convey the Inca King's summons? If the king really wanted to summon him, or if the king had any important instructions to give him, it would be enough to send a prince. And with so many Spaniards riding horses and carrying so much gold, you should know at a glance that they are out to collect gold. Thinking that he had been designing for others in this life, but now he was being tricked by others, he felt very regretful, but it was already too late.
Gonzalo felt that this old man was stubborn, so he asked the soldiers to take turns beating him. Until Hernando came over with Antonio and Letomundo, and saw that Chalkuchma had been beaten to pieces and his whole body had shrunk into a ball, he yelled, "Stop it."
The soldiers stopped and looked at Gonzalo. Seeing that this stubborn old man probably didn't know where the gold was hidden, Gonzalo saw his elder brother yelling at him like crazy, so he said, "This is the order of the Marquis" and walked away with the soldiers. .
Hernando asked two assistants to lift Chalkuchma from the ground so that he could sit in a chair. However, before Chalkuchma could stand still, he fell down again. Fortunately, two Spaniards supported him. But he still couldn't stand and fell straight to one side. It turned out that one of his legs was broken.
Hernando was so angry that he asked someone to find a bed for Chalkuchma and went straight to the Marquis's office. The Marquis was sitting at the table listening to Gonzalo reporting to him the interrogation of Chalkuchma. On the table was the map of the route to Cusco drawn by the bishop.
Listening to Gonzalo's report, Marquis Pizarro looked at Gonzalo for a long time and said with great dissatisfaction, "I will let you know the stationing and defense of the Inca army, where the palace and temples are. place, but you have been talking for a long time, but you haven’t said a single useful word. It seems that you have to interrogate him again. "
Hernando yelled at his two younger brothers, "Chalcuchma is the distinguished guest I invited, and you treat my guest like this? He was originally unwilling to come here, but I persuaded him many times and told him He was willing to come over after I vouched for him. But as soon as he came here, you broke his legs. You are too cruel."
The Marquis of Pizarro was very unhappy and said, "My dear brother, please calm down. This is the headquarters of the Spanish Expeditionary Force, not at home. You brought Chalkuch horse here, which can be said to be a miracle." But don't worry too much about how to treat him and deal with him." At this point, he waved his hand and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Captain Hernando, you can go home and have a good rest."
Hernando said, "I haven't finished speaking yet. What are you going to do with Chalkuchma?"
Marquis Pizarro said, "I can't possibly let him go. If I let him go, he will lead his army to attack. By then, we will all be finished."
Hernando said, "Chalcuchma is a soldier. You should ask the Inca King about gold. Because the gold in the Inca Kingdom is controlled by the King."
The Marquis of Pizarro said, "I know this better than you, okay, you can go." Then he said to Secretary Robert who was sitting at the table counting the amount of gold, "You said the gold in that room is fast." Is it full?"
Rolbert said, "Yes, it will fill up quickly."
The Marquis said to Robert, "Let's go and have a look now."
Before the Marquis could leave, Hernando added, "I tell you, Mr. Marquis, if the gold in that room is almost full, the Inca King should be released immediately according to the agreement."
The Marquis glanced at Hernando with great disdain and annoyance and said, "You have a soft heart and a Bodhisattva heart. If I were like you, we would have been wiped out by the Incas long ago. Don't even think about it. I Let him go today, and he will lead his troops to attack me tomorrow. Maybe you and I will become his prisoners." With that, he took Robert out of the house.
